Miami's iconic century-old bar, Tobacco Road, has shut shop. The downtown Miami hot spot closed down on Saturday, Oct. 25, night. The grand farewell saw traditional fare and liquor being served, accompanied by live music from local bands.
Tobacco Road has a checkered history, surviving the Depression and the Prohibition. The 103-year-old bar in downtown Miami is famous for being a popular haunt of gangster Al Capone.
"Al Capone, had a secret room upstairs with a cupboard in which he kept alcohol during the Prohibition era," reveals James Goll, Tobacco Road's director of marketing.
At the time of Prohibition, Tobacco Road was officially a bakery; however, on the second floor was a speakeasy. Over the years, the place has been a gay bar during the World War II, a gambling area, a strip club and a live music area. It was declared out of bounds for personnel by the military for several years and was notorious for being raided by the cops.
The exact date of the bar being built is not known; however, according to historians, the place received its liquor license in the 1920s. The bar was shut down at the time of World War II for "lewd and lascivious behavior" but opened its doors to the public again in 1948. The bar was names Chanticleer till the 1970s after a character from "The Canterbury Tales."
Patrick Gebler, owner of Tobacco Road, purchased the place along with partners in 1982 for $200,000. They named the popular haunt Tobacco Road after a famous song from the 1960s. Despite having an infamous lineage, Tobacco Road soon grew in popularity winning patrons over with its signature succulent chicken wings and tasty burgers.
The venue grew in popularity as a music joint after Tobacco Road got Fat Chance Blues Band to play.
However, in 2012, the bar and adjacent businesses in Brickel City Center were purchased by Carlos Mattos, a Colombian auto executive. Mattos gave Tobacco Road and other tenants a three-year lease, within which time frame they had to move their businesses to "make room for developers."
The bar's manager Joel Riviera and the staff created a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 in funds for shifting Tobacco Road to a new venue.
Riviera says that the new venue will be done up to resemble the old Tobacco Road as far as possible to preserve the legacy.
